Re: [tlug] Kana-Problems

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Niels Kobschaetzki writes:

 > I move latest on x.1 to a new system upgrade because at least in
 > the last years it brought me always some significant additional
 > utility (and therefore I do not have the problem with new
 > software).

Sure, but you're talking about a relatively small code base (the core
OS) supported by a billion dollar company.

It is not reasonable to expect upgrades to the entire portfolio of
open source to go as smoothly as upgrades to a tightly integrated
proprietary suite of software.

 > Can you run the newest version of evolution

I don't run "no matter how many times they write it, it still doesn't
run anywhere" software at all. :-)

 > I don't think that I compare apples and oranges. I compare two
 > different philosophies in the way a system is updated.

Exactly!  You asked why you *can* blindly update Mac OS X, but not
Linux.  The reason is that they are completely different things.  If
you did blind updates on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux system, I doubt
they would break very often!  RHEL, Mac OS X, and Windows break less
often because you don't get new features with those blind updates, you
only get security and important bug fixes.  If you want new features,
you'll get your eyes opened by the bill you have to pay first, if
nothing else.

 > And Mac OS X and Windows use another paradigma which seem to break
 > less with the disadvantage of being not so free in customizability.

But that's not true!  As desktop OSes, they are (almost) as
customizable as Linux, because (most) OSS is ported to them.  There is
no software, except recent gdb, that I'm used to using on Linux that
doesn't run on my Mac.  The reason they don't break on upgrade has
nothing to do with that.  The reason they don't break is that they
don't give you anything except important, well-tested bug fixes.  You
don't get new functionality.

 > Imagine a distribution which says: Hey we take care of all the stuff
 > you can't see and we deliver the software you can see in packages.

It's called "Red Hat Enterprise Linux" and it's very successful.
Hell, they even sell it for money.  A lot of money.  Or you can get a
five-year-old rock-solid OS for free with Debian stable.